CAMPA Full Form
What is the full form of CAMPA?
In 2002, the Supreme Court of India ordered the creation of the CAMPA fund. CAMPA mitigates the impact of converting forest land to non-forest purposes by ensuring that funds are released and used quickly, efficiently and transparently through well-defined institutional mechanisms, aiming to be.The CAMPA Act also applies to States, Union Territories, and the Centre.
The Bill Envisages of CAMPA
- Establishment of State Compensation Plantation Fund and State Compensation Plantation Fund in each province.
- Receipt of funds (from user agencies) at federal and state levels for compensatory afforestation, his NPV of forests, and other project-specific payments.
- Funds so selected will be used primarily for planting trees, restoring forest ecosystems, protecting species and developing infrastructure to compensate for forest loss.
- Establishment of fund management bodies at the national and state level to manage the respective funds.
Important Features of CAMPA
- The law establishes a National Compensation Plantation Fund within the Public Accounts of India and a State Compensation Plantation Fund within the Public Accounts of each state.
- These funds receive payments for
a. Compensatory afforestation
b. Forest Net Present Value (NPV)
c. Other project-specific payments.
- The National Fund receives 10% of these funds while the State Fund receives the remaining 90%.
- According to the provisions of the law, a company that diverts forest land must provide replacement land to carry out compensatory afforestation.
- For afforestation, the company should pay for the planting of new trees on replacement land provided to the state.
What are The Objectives of CAMPA?
The objectives of CAMPA are listed below:
- Promote afforestation and development activities to compensate for forest land to be diverted to non-forest uses.
- Enact effective guidelines for the state
- Facilitate necessary support related to scientific, technical, and other requirements that may be requested by the agency responsible for state CAMPA.
- Recommend measures based on strategic planning to the state CAMPA authorities
- Solving problems that arise between interstate or central states.
Issues of CAMPA:
- In 2002, the Supreme Court stated that the collected funds for afforestation were not being used sufficiently by the states and ordered the central pooling of funds within the ad hoc equalization fund for afforestation.
- The law says that land selected for afforestation should preferably be adjacent to the forest to be diverted to make it easier for forest officials to manage it. However, if suitable non-forest land is not found, degraded forests can be selected for afforestation. In several states like Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and Jharkhand where logging intensity is very high, finding non-forest land for afforestation to compensate for forest loss is a big challenge.
- Utilization of CAMPA Fund: Some state governments are not utilizing it properly. A number of Rs 86 lakh from CAMPA funds earmarked for afforestation was allegedly spent on litigation in Punjab.
- In addition, the loss of natural species is compensated in several places by the planting of non-native species in the name of the artificial plantation. It also serves as a threat to the existing ecosystem.
- The High-Level Committee on Environmental Laws found that the quality of forest cover declined between 1951 and 2014, with the poor quality of compensatory afforestation plantations being one of the reasons for the decline.
- The bill delegates the determination of NPV (forest ecosystem loss value) to an expert committee set up by the central government. Given that NPV makes up about half of the total funds raised, its calculation methodology would be important.
Way Ahead
1. The proposed goal of the law must be fulfilled by using CAMPA funds only for the purpose for which they are intended. It should be effectively used only for afforestation and nature conservation.
2. Close examination of public administration performance using CAMPA funds should be proclaimed. The central government should adopt the concept of performance-based budgeting to allocate funds to the state governments, in which case the performance of previous funds should be reviewed for split funding.
3. State governments should restore existing forests rather than creating new ones.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The Compensatory Afforestation Fund and the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) were established in 2004 by a Supreme Court order in 2001.
In 2006, Adhoc CAMPA was established to manage the compensatory afforestation fund. To offset the loss of forest area and maintain sustainability, the Indian government has come up with a well-defined law known as CAMPA (Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority).
The state CAMPA would serve as a common repository of funds accruing to the account of compensatory afforestation and NPV. It would distribute the funds according to the guidelines governing the use of funds for the conservation, protection, and management of forests. The funds would also be used to protect wildlife and improve their habitats.
As per the rules, 90% of the CAF (Charities Aid Foundation) money is to be given to the states while 10% is to be preserved by the Centre.
The CAF Act was passed by the Central Government in 2016.
The amount paid is based on a number of factors, including goods and services such as timber, firewood, soil conservation or seed propagation. existed. This value is called Net Present Value (NPV) and is calculated by a panel of experts. This final amount to be paid by the User Agency includes NPV costs, plantation and other fees.